Let’s Talk About You

It’s no secret that motorcycle riders love to talk about their bikes. I surely do. A guy or gal could spend hours telling you about their bike. How long they’ve had it. What they did to it. How much time they spend cleaning it. The longest ride they’ve ever done.

Since this blog is brand new, I’d like to get to know my readers a little. Tell me about yourself. Who wants to answer some questions?

– What type of bike do you ride?

– Where is your favorite place to ride?

– What customizations have you done to your bike?

– Would you rather ride alone, in a group or with a few of your closest buddies?

– What’s the longest trip you’ve done so far?

That’s a good start for this blog. I may ask more as we go. Let’s see who is proud of their bike. Don’t be shy. I wont judge you by the type of bike you ride. That’s why I started this blog, remember? What I will do is share my answers to those same questions.

Favorite place to ride? That’s a tough one. There are so many places I love. I would have to say out in the Thacher Park area. Roads like 254 (Rock Road), 156 through Altamont, and especially 308 in Delmar are high up on my list. Be careful if you end up out in Medusa on 351. Some of those roads aren’t even on the map. Good thing I had lots of gas that night…

I bought the V-rod with 1800 miles on it. It has been lowered 2 inches and has reduced reach bars. I added a Sundowner seat to make it a little more comfy on the longer rides.

I am comfortable with a group, alone or with my buddies. It all depends on my mood. Going out alone sometimes is a necessity to just get away from it all.

The longest trip I have done before is about 350 miles in one day. A few friends do a Burlington ride every year and it is a blast. You Ironbutt guys stop laughing. Seriously. It’s not funny.

I am going to try and put together some reader photos. If you would like to participate, please send a pic of your bike(s) (and you if you wish) to tubikers@gmail.com with a blurb giving me permission to use them on the blog. If I get enough feedback, maybe I can start choosing a bike at random each week and featuring it as “Bike of the week.”

I am also looking for route suggestions. If you have a great ride that you would like to share with the members of this blog, please send it on over. See ya soon!

32 Responses

2006 Kawasaki ZX6R 636 Special Edition (There’s really not much special about it, ha.)

Agreed, a “favorite place to ride” is a tough one. I love water, so anything that brings me around that is great, which is why I love to head out to the Sacandaga and cruise around there. But for closer to home rides, I agree that the Thacher Park/Bethlehem/Delmar/Voorhesville area is just a great place to get lost in.

Only upgrades were a Yoshimura exhaust, smoked flush-mount turn signals up front and an integrated tail w/turn signals.

I’ve never ridden in a large group, so I can’t really say about that, but I enjoy riding with three or four friends a lot. But, as you said, sometimes it’s great just to get out there on your own and throw everything else out of your mind for a little while. That’s probably what I do the most.

Longest ride? Maybe 150-200 miles in a day, when going out to the Sacandaga from Albany.

1985 Honda Goldwing Aspencade 49K miles , in other words, just broken in…

I was looking to get back in to motorcycling a few years ago and this bike just dropped into my lap..I was not looking for a dresser, but I can’t imagine not having one for my main bike now. I am a gadget and tool guy and the ‘wing has room for lots of them! I am looking for a first generation Yamaha Vmax as a second bike.

Customized stuff? Too much for a simple post

Longest day? 665 miles Albany to Columbus,Oh on a ’95 HD sportster..I wore jeans (big mistake) and had numb butt for 2 days.
The next year I did the same trip, but wore bicycle shorts underneath the jeans..world of difference.

I ride alone mostly, but will ride with a group depending. Sometimes riders in a group can make me uneasy when they don’t follow basic rules of group riding…the kind of stuff that can get us all hurt.

Since we have a camp at Sacandaga Lake, I ride that general area a lot. I also like the Cherry Valley in the fall, Vermont’s rt 100, and the Woodstock area of the Catskills, but I am always looking for new areas to ride.

Jim P – 49K miles is definitely just broken in for a Gold Wing. The biking shorts idea intrigues me. You wouldn’t think that that little bit of material would make a difference. I am also a huge fan of the Catskills. Coming up (or down) the mountain on 23A by Ka’aterskill falls is a pretty amazing ride.

The key to the bike shorts to make sure they are padded, it distributes the pressure points around enough to make the difference.
Sort of like a gel pad for a motorcycle seat, except you are wearing it, but with the shorts, you are getting moisture wicking benefits too.
I did the trip on the Sportster in my early 30’s, just thinking about doing that trip now (on the same bike) makes me hurt.

I’m 42, not sure if I’m going through a mid-life crises but I’ve always wanted a bike.

I Just got my motorcycle license two weeks ago taking the Basic Rider Course at HVCC. Great course, highly recommended!

Bought my first bike last Friday, a 92 600cc V-Twin Honda Shadow. It has 12k miles on it, Vance & Hines pipes, K&N filter, carb has been jetted to match. After market seat with sissy bar and custom flames painted on the tank.

My longest ride was riding it home to Albany from Cambridge.

I know all the roads very well around Thacher, Berne, Middleburgh, Medusa and look forward to riding them all on my ‘new’ bike.

Not sure about group riding, but it’s only been a couple weeks.

Look forward to reading more on this blog and hope to see you all on the road.

Congrats on getting your license and a new ride Mark! It sounds like the perfect first bike. Those roads out there are perfect for learning to ride as they have little or no traffic on them most of the time. Just watch out for gravel in the corners. I’ve noticed it a lot more this year. Seems like people keep dropping a tire off the edge and kicking the gravel up on the road. Have fun out there!

I had a ’86 Honda Shadow 700 four years ago (still looking for a place that’ll fix it) but I have had ten great years on it before it broke down.
I have had three long distance rides: Atlanta GA, Charlotte NC and Quebec City Canada.
Quebec City is a great ride, four hours to Montreal, have lunch, then three hours to Quebec City. Check into a hotel, see the sights, have dinner and then party at Club Dagoberet. Most Euroepean city in North America.

I’m riding an ’08 Harley Street Glide with slighly more than 31,000 on the odo. I think that’s pretty good since I picked it up with 0 miles in May 2008. I’ve be across the country on Yamaha Road Stars, so I agree with you that what you ride doesn’t matter, only that you ride.

Favorite place to ride: West Virginia, although Utah and Colorado moved up my list this year. Locally, there are many good roads in Renselaer and Columbia counties.

Least favorite: Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska

Group riding can be fun…depending on the group.

I have two friends that I’ve ridden in every one of the continental 48 states with, and another buddy who just made the trip to Utah with the three of us. That’s a great group for long trips, but I also have a group of folks I ride with locally that are fun, too.

My personal longest day in the saddle was about 650 or so, so the Iron Butt guys can laugh at me, too!

’05 v-Star 100 Classic with just 16k on it now….bought it in ’07 w/ 8k and like it just as it is….pearl white, lots of chrome and great lines. I usually stay within a 75 mile radius…prefer riding alone but with the right people a group can be fun. Would like to take it to the Cape for a weekend if I can find the time.
Took the course to get my license at HVCC when I bought the bike and suggest it for ALL beginners. They stress safety and you learn to ride like everyone is out to kill you….makes you a better car driver as well.
Good luck with the blog!

Bill – I never got to take the course, but I definitely have the ‘ride like everyone is out to kill you’ thing down pat. That course gets nothing but rave reviews and should definitely be taken by all beginners.

A ride to the Cape sounds nice. That’s a great place to go. Have fun out there.

Michael, I wish you had called the Blog “Motorcyclists” from the get go. I prefer not being considered a “Biker”.
I have a 1949 Matchless G80S, 1966 Honda 160 Dream, 1968 Yamaha YCS1, 1969 Honda CT90, 1973 RD350, 1974 CB200, (2) 1976 RD400 Roadracers, 1978 Honda XL125, 1982 MB5 roadracer and 1987 Yamaha SRX 250. Most are fully restored or original. Only the XL125 awaits restoration. The previous owner was at the Trade Center on 9/11. In his memory, I will make new.
But I don’t want to be called a biker.

@4hope-The phrase”Biker”is putting it mildly. If you rode with my crew back in the 60s,you would have recieved many titles,most unsuitable for print. The word Biker didn’t come around until the 80s to the best of my knowledge. There were only groups of riders back then. There was no such thing as”The Lone Wolf”. We were always paired or more. We were “THE HILL GANG”.

I’m a 50-something woman who got back to riding five years ago after a 20-year hiatus while my daughter was growing up. Got the bug again, started reading and posting on a great beginner biker forum (reincarnated a few years back as http://www.beginnerbikes.org). After struggling with a 23 year old Kawasaki KZ440, and wondering if I was crazy and maybe just too old to be thinking about riding a bike again, the nice folks at BB suggested trying something smaller and newer. Enter the Honda Rebel 250…I’ve never looked back. I am currently in the possession of a Kawasaki Ninja 650R (my weekend plaything), A Suzuki Burgman 400 (my commuter), and most recently, a Yamaha TW200 dual-sport that I’m still trying to get used to riding off the beaten path :D. I ride with the Southern Cruisers in Albany, and whenever possible, with a “Beginner Biker” group out of NYC (Most of whom are now far from “beginners”, but take a very special interest in helping out motorcycling newbies).

DeeN – I am sure I will repeat this many times throughout the life of this blog – I love hearing stories of people getting back to riding after they’ve had to take care of more important matters. It makes me happy to see people are able to go back to doing something they loved so much but had to stop.

The site you shared seems like a great resource for those looking to get their license or first bike. The forum on the site seems to offer tons of information that would be very useful to someone new to motorcycles. Thanks for passing it along.

What type of bike do you ride?
1994 Yamaha Virago 535s- new to me this June it has 7,000 miles on it and the chrome is in excellent condition.

Where is your favorite place to ride?
My husband and I recently took a ride that brought us up to Middlebury, Vermont where we had a great pub lunch, took the flat ferry barge back to Ticonderoga and came back toward Saratoga through Schuylerville. We also like to ride to Manchester Vermont via Greenwich and Cambridge, but watch out for the tar snakes in the curves on Route 313!

What customizations have you done to your bike?
Nothing much- added a sissy bar so I can add additional bag storage, have a nice set of Tourmaster throw over bags on the bike, just added Ken Sean carbon fiber bar end mirrors to replace stock so I can actually seen vehicles behind me.

Would you rather ride alone, in a group or with a few of your closest buddies?
Riding with my husband is the best although he rides much more than I do so sometimes I feel like I’m slowing him down. We usually just get on and go- stop for lunch or dinner and enjoy the ride with no special destination in mind.

What’s the longest trip you’ve done so far?
Back when we were riding two up on our 1982 Honda V45 Sabre I think we hit a 300 mile day and I was in agony! Riding my own bike, probably only 125 miles in a day now.

Kathy – I also enjoy riding through Vermont. The scenery is great and there isn’t as much traffic as there is here. Being a photographer, I am a sucker for the covered bridges. The windshield must be really nice, as the bugs up there get pretty bad. I have a windshield on the Yamaha, but not on the Harley. It makes a huge difference.

– Would you rather ride alone, in a group or with a few of your closest buddies?

The GF & I like to ride with the Brunswick H.O.G. Chapter. Nice folks. Mostly skilled riders (mostly)Generally hit the road a couple of Sundays each month. Usually 8 – 10 bikes, but sometimes more…Sometimes less…

– What’s the longest trip you’ve done so far?

600+ miles up thru VT to NH & down the Franconia Gap & the Kancamagus HWY up Rt16 to Mt Washington & back…
Generally the Sunday rides are between 2650 – 300 miles…

I ride a Honda Shadow Spirit 750. It’s my first bike. Bought it new last year when I took the Basic Rider Course (which I recommend) and got my license.

I like to ride anywhere that has low traffic, preferably in the country.

I’ve put on saddlebags and a windshield, that’s it so far.

I like to mix it up, driving alone to work and with friends and family at other times.

Longest trip is when my wife and I (she has her own bike) did almost 400 miles over three days through the Adirondacks. It was great!

As a relative beginner, I have a question for all the vets (this might be a good topic for a separate blog entry): how do you deal with the unreliability of weather forecasters? Believe me, we’ve really noticed how lousy they often are since we began riding. We sometimes check four or five different stations just to see if it’s OK to ride on any given day. It stinks when they say it won’t rain but you get caught in a shower, or (even worse) when they say it WILL rain and it doesn’t, and you miss a riding day!

Uncle Bubba – How to deal with unreliability of the weather man? If there’s a small chance it might rain, put on the rain gear. It will almost never rain if you’re prepared for it. It’s a tough call. Last Wednesday, I called our organizer and asked if we were still having the weekly ride. She seemed confused and said yes. Then I explained that the Weather Channel was showing that it was going to pour for the next few hours. She said that it was sunny and beautiful up by her and to come on up. I went up and we rode all the way out to Cambridge and never saw a drop of rain. It’s so hit or miss.

I have gotten to the point where I don’t mind riding in the rain, so long as I have rain gear on. Especially after last year. The season is short enough to begin with, so I just got used to it. I wouldn’t go out in the rain intentionally, but might put on the rain gear and know I will get wet at some point during my ride. You just have to slow down and be a little more alert.

I’m Uncle Bubba’s wife. I have a Honda Shadow Spirit 750, purchased over a year ago and it’s my 3rd bike.

So far I’ve added saddlebags and supports, a sissy bar to hold luggage on long trips and a windshield. Hoping to get a louder horn soon!

I ride to work as much as possible which is really my only solo ride since my husband rides too. Love to take rides through the Adirondacks, Saratoga, Schoharie and Catskill regions with family and friends on the weekends.

Longest ride – As Bubba mentioned – we recently drove to Lake Placid and back through the Cooperstown area, about 400 miles. Beautiful ride!

Well, I guess I enjoying riding motorcycles that inflict pain & punishment on the human body. I have been riding choppers, rigids, & other modes of two wheel transportation that just flat out kick the crap outa ya! These are not garage queens by any means. I love to ride. A father of two young sons I ride whenever the needs of them is not required. My present ride is a 2006 Big Bear Chopper Merc. Ten feet long and far from street legal. Maybe that is why I have a smile from ear to ear with every bump. The freedom. The not giving two craps about what anyone else thinks. Nothing pleases more then ripping up the fast lane of the Northway with my beard in my face. LOUD and PROUD!!! Oh yeah, you will see me coming. But dont judge a book by its cover. My hands go numb, my feet vibrate off the pegs, and my back twinges with pain, but I can’t get that dam smile off my face. Ride on.